Current Address

Sister Jorden Elizabeth JacksonPhilippines Baguio Mission

PO Box 115

National Highway

Brgy. Lingsat

San Fernando, La Union

2500,PHILIPPINES

Monday, October 28, 2013

I'm in MAHAL (LOVE)!!!

I love the MTC! I love my kasama (companion)! I love my
teacher and I love my district! I love my "residence hall" and
roommates and Sister Training Leaders! Everything about this place is
absolutely amazing!!! I am so excited and blessed to be here.

On our first day at the MTC, after we got our name tags (so
amazing!!), our books, dropped our stuff off, met our teacher, met our companion,
and learned some Tagalog, the mission presidency and their wives talked to us.
I loved what one counselor’s wife shared. She told us to smile, because the Light
of Christ comes out through the puffiness of our cheeks. Good thing my cheeks
are so puffy you can’t even see my eyes when I smile - all people can see is
the Light of Christ! I seriously couldn't stop smiling all day.

The Mission President’s
wife talked about Jacob 5 and the Parable of the Vineyard. Every time the
master commands the servant to destroy or to work in the vineyard, the servant
asks for more time. But then the last time the master commands the servant to
work in the vineyard, the servant (the prophet) asks for more workers (missionaries)
and then the master (the Lord) comes down and works with all of them. HOW COOL
IS THAT!?! I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us with more workers and
that I get to be one of those workers. But you can be too! The Lord needs
everyone to be a missionary! AND I love that the Savior, Jesus Christ will work
with us every step of the way. I know that this work (especially the language)
would not be possible without him.

On our first night, we were placed in a room with about 30
other missionaries and an actor investigator. We were all supposed to role
play, and just raise our hands when we have something to say. I learned that it
is really important to take the time to ask the investigators questions- about
themselves and if they have any questions for us- and learn about what his
happening in their lives so that we can better help them. Also, we need to keep
our message happy! The gospel is good news after all!

Another really amazing thought from my second day in the
MTC: if the children of God do not repent and be baptized, how important/
useful is the atonement of Jesus Christ? It is our job to make sure the
atonement wasn’t for nothing. We each need to make Christ’s sacrifice mean
something by repenting of our sins and mistakes every day.

We taught our first investigator yesterday. In only Tagalog.
It was really hard. Sister Golightly said a prayer and bore her testimony, and
then I was just going to say, "The gospel is important" but I ended
up saying "the gospel is love." Sister Golightly and I are just
saying that the spirit decided to speak through me and tell our investigator
that the gospel is love. It totally wasn't just my terrible Tagalog ;)

Sister Golightly and I are BFF kasamas! I love her! We get
along really well and both of us are trying hard to learn the language and obey
with exactness. Our branch motto is “obedience brings blessings, but strict
obedience brings miracles!” I love that motto, and Sister Golightly and I both
agree that we need a miracle very much if we want to be able to learn Tagolog.
I feel so blessed with my kasama. I am so grateful also that the Lord gave her
the gift of tongues so that I can be blessed through her.

List of humorous mistakes that Sister Golightly and I made
on the first day:

1. To get into doors at the MTC you have to slide your MTC
ID card through a scanner. There are doors to get into the stairs to our
residence hall. We tried all six stairwells and none of the scanners were even
working! No red lights, no green lights. So we finally just took the elevator
even though we didn’t have suitcases. Our roommates told us that we can just
open the door to the stairwell- they aren’t locked.

2. We forgot scriptures to
"Learning How to Teach an
Investigator" night. Duh!

3. All four roommates locked ourselves out of the room. We
needed to go to the help desk to borrow the spare key. BUT no PJs allowed and
you have to be wearing closed toed shoes outside the residence hall. I was in PJs,
Sister Golightly and Sister Morral had yoga pants on (also not allowed) and
Sister Smith had basketball shorts on, so we voted on her to retrieve the key.
She didn't have any shoes on, and since Sister Golightly and I were both
wearing flipflops, she had to borrow Sister Morral’s slippers. Hahahaha!!! Another
Sister went with her and all was well. :)

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About Me

I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and couldn’t be happier. I feel honored and blessed with the opportunity to serve the people in the Philippines Baguio mission. I love the Lord and His Gospel. It has been such a blessing in my life, I can’t wait to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others! Find out more about my church at lds.org and mormon.org